Mirage tank (Red Alert 2)
The Mirage tank is the Allies' supreme stealth tank used during the Third World War and the Psychic Dominator Disaster. Background The tank is a technological marvel created by Albert Einstein. Developed relatively late in the war, it incorporated technology allowing it to take on the appearance of any organic item in order to disguise itself. Like in Shakespeare's Macbeth, the Mirage tank was designed so that the forest could move. The Mirage consists of a hemispherical turret mounted on a light tank chassis. The most prominent features, when not in hiding, are the twin projection units extending from the sides of the main turret. They change the tank's appearance to that of a nearby tree in the eyes of the enemy. They can take out enemies using a surprise attack. They attack with a heat-ray weapon. In-game It can quickly snipe almost all infantry, Soviet or Yuri, in just one or two shots and destroy most tanks in between three and five. Light vehicles like the Flak track do not stand much of a chance against the Mirage tank. A group consisting of 3 to 4 Mirage Tanks can quickly destroy most enemy buildings except for the construction yard. However, its best use is as a defender of vulnerable areas, as a group of them can lie in wait and then ambush nearby enemies to offset its apparent lack of armor protection. Their first appearance is in the third to last mission of the Allied campaign, when the Commander had to defend Einstein's Laboratory and the Chronosphere. Aftermath It is not known to operate after the events of the Psychic Dominator Disaster. After Cherdenko's trip to 1927, the Mirage tank was redesigned in the War of the Three Powers and was armed with a Spectrum turret, similarly used as the Prism technology in the Third World War. Assessment Pros *Instantly eliminates enemy infantry in one or two hits while being quite effective against all other ground targets as well. This makes them an ideal deterrent for enemy Paradrop attacks. *Can hide from plain sight and set up for an ambush to improve defense against intruders. * Powerful in numbers. * Fast hit and run vehicles. * Groups of Mirage Tanks can eliminate Yuri Clones and Masterminds easily and safely due to their firepower, range and tree disguise. * It is useful to defend Prism Tanks against enemy attacks due to their light armour. Cons *Can be seen by the enemy when the tank fires in a tree form. *Can be detected by the Psychic Sensor. *Lightly armoured. *Requires Battle Lab. *Vulnerable to enemy anti-tank units, tanks and defenses when spotted. *Highly vulnerable to radiation. *Ineffective against structures unless gaining firepower upgrade from crates. * Helpless against air units. * Vulnerable to Psychic Towers due to their low damage to structures. * Tanks require good positioning to be most effective. Selected Quotes Note: If Yuri's Revenge is not installed, this unit will use quotes from the Grizzly battle tank. Gallery MirageTankRA2.jpg|Installer slide Mirage tank Voxel Render.jpg|Voxel Model Render Beta_Mirage_Tank.PNG|Beta appearance RA2_Mirage_Tank_French_Icons.gif|Icon in French version RA2_Mirage_Tank_Korea_Icons.gif|Icon with Korean text RA2_Mirage_Tank_China_Icons.jpeg|Icon with Chinese text RA2_Alpha_Mirage_Tank_Icons.png|Alpha icon Trivia *An M42 Duster model was used for the alpha icon. *A British Challenger 2 model was used for the final icon. *In the icon, the Mirage tank has its turret rotated, while this is not possible in game. This is required for its camouflage logic to work, as problems occur when the game tries to disguise 2 joined voxels like a tank and its turret into one terrain object. *Originally, the Mirage Tank was supposed to be able to select the terrain object such as rocks, signs, light posts, etc. in addition to the standard trees, to disguise in a similar manner to the Spy. However it was felt that this caused too much micro-management - one had to 'deploy' the tank (like the Siege Chopper in Yuri's Revenge) to get it to disguise, then it could only fire when disguised. Finally one had to 'undeploy' the tank to move it again. Some mods like Mental Omega enable this function. Category:Tanks Category:Red Alert 2 Allied Arsenal Category:Red Alert 2 Vehicles